


Broken

by TVgirll1971



Series: The Great Prince [4]
Category: Whiskey Cavalier (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25453939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TVgirll1971/pseuds/TVgirll1971
Summary: The same day Ray sends the team off on a mission to Brazil, he gets a strange call from police about his father being in a holding cell. There, he finds the normally serious Douglas Prince drunk out of his mind. Ray soon discovers that those two events are connected.
Series: The Great Prince [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1523420
Kudos: 2





	Broken

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place a few months after "Humility and Regret.", roughly eight months after the events in "Year of the Mole."

**Prologue**

Will sat across from the prisoner. That’s what he called her in his head sometimes. He knew he shouldn’t. This was Ray’s sister. Will knew her since she was a freshman in college. He just couldn’t reconcile the girl he met with the person in front of him. "I have a question I need to ask. Why are you still alive?"

"Excuse me?" she asked, surprised.

"Ollerman doesn't like loose ends and you are one giant loose end. So, why did he let you live?"

Abby shrugged. "He knows I'm not going to talk. As long as I'm quiet my family is protected."

"So, he's just going to trust you to be quiet? You can’t be that naïve."

Abby shifted in her seat “I didn’t take the deal. I could’ve ratted him out when I was first arrested but I didn’t. He knows that. He knows I’m not going to talk.”

Will was getting annoyed. He’d expect this naivete from Ray but he really thought she’d know better. "Ollerman doesn't work that way. You're a liability, yet somehow, you're still here. It doesn’t make sense.”

"I don't know. I swear I...” she saw the look on Will’s face. “You don't believe me."

"Honestly, I don't know.' Will admitted. "I look at you and I see the girl I met. The girl who asked if I could be one of her references to get into Quantico. God, Abby, I was so honored by that. Then I think about the woman you are now--one of the most prolific moles the Bureau ever had and I don't know if I can trust you."

“I’m telling the truth, Will. I don’t know why Ollerman hasn’t come after me. I just assumed he knows I won’t talk.”

“Well, then you don’t know Ollerman.”

Of course, that was understatement. She didn’t know him at all. She was so angry at the Bureau, at herself, she just fell for his BS hook, line and sinker as her father would say. If Ollerman was as thorough as she’d heard, she didn’t know why he hadn’t come after her. Will was right, she was a liability. There was no reason for Ollerman to keep her alive. The only reason that made sense was if--. She stopped that thought immediately. After all, it couldn’t be. It just couldn’t.  
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Ray was working at the office when he got the call. It’d been an eventful day. He said goodbye to the team as they went off to Brazil for their next mission, then he went to the prison and visited Abby. He visited her once a week, always at lunchtime. He preferred it that way. Seeing her there was so sad, if he saw her at the end of the day, he’d be thinking of it all night. However, if he went at lunch, work would distract him afterwards. Of course, it’s hard to stay distracted when said prison calls you at the end of the day to tell you a man calling himself Douglas Prince attempted to enter the prison extremely inebriated.

The way to the prison, Ray thought this had to be a mistake. First, as far as he knew, his father was still in D.C. He’d talked to his father the previous week—he didn’t say anything about coming to New York. Of course, his father did tend to arrive unannounced. Ray also knew that his father wanted to visit Abby. Ray had tried—tried for months to convince Abby to let their father see her. Ray couldn’t really blame her. If he was in jail, he wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of their father’s disapproving stare either. Of course, it seemed as if his father had changed and Ray TOLD Abby that. Finally, Ray made some leeway. He planned on calling him that night. However, apparently, his father was already in New York getting so plastered he honestly thought he’d be able to walk into federal prison and visit someone. Like Ray thought—it had to be a mistake. He continued to think that as he was led down to the holding cell where supposedly his father was. Suddenly, Ray heard a bellowing voice that disavowed him of the notion of this being a mistake:

" LET ME OUT OF HERE!! LET ME OUT OF HERE, GOD DAMNED IT! YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I WAS DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FUCKING FBI! I'LL HAVE YOUR BADGES YOU FUCKING COCK...!!"

Ray quickened the pace. The last thing he needed to hear was his father swearing like a drunken sailor. Finally, he came face to face with his father and couldn't believe what he saw. 

His father, the most controlled man Ray ever knew was completely out-of-control drunk. His clothes were disheveled, he looked as if he hadn't shaved or combed his hair in days. He was a complete wreck. Ray was jolted out of his reverie by another string of swear words by his father.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ray demanded from outside the cell.

His father stopped mid tirade, blinked, and tried to walk over to where Ray was. Unfortunately, he was too drunk and had to hang on to gate to keep from falling. “Son!” he yelled, wide eyed and hysterical. "They won't let me see her! My baby! it's her birthday! They won't let me see her! I need to see my baby!"

"You're in no condition to see anyone right now." Ray noted.

Suddenly, his father began shaking the bars violently as he screamed. "It's her birthday, damn it! I need to see her! I need to see my baby! They can't keep her from me! She's my baby! I want to see her! I need to see my baby!"

Ray motioned for the guard to open the cell. Ray had never seen his father like this. He was completely hysterical and Ray didn't have a clue what to do. Then he remembered what his father used to say to him when he'd cry over getting hurt as a kid.

"Stop it!" Ray said in a hushed but very harsh tone as he dragged his father to the bench "Stop it! Pull yourself together!"

It worked. Ray's father stopped, took a breath, then suddenly, put his head on Ray's shoulder and started whimpering. "My baby. My baby."

"Shit" Ray thought. That's how Ray always reacted--stop crying for two seconds and then start whimpering. He remembered he father always hated that. He'd sigh in disgust then swear under his breath. 

Ray sighed but there was no disgust in his voice. "Come on." Ray said, kindly. "You're coming to my place where you can sleep this off." Ray helped his father get up and out the door. He marveled at how small his father looked. Ray’s father had always seemed larger than life. Even when Ray was an adult, his father seemed to tower over him even though they were, in reality, the same height. But right now, as he leaned against Ray for support, he looked so damned small.

"Don't forget the shoes." his father mumbled, later, as Ray sat him on the bed. "Damned feet swell at night."

"I wouldn't know." Ray noted with a smirk.

"You will." his father grumbled. "One day you'll wake up; nose hair as long as your arm, most your friends dead, surrounded by people you don't know. You wake up; the world you knew is gone. Just passed you by."

"Stand up." Ray ordered kindly. “We need to get your pants off.”

As Ray got his father out of his pants, Prince put his hand on Ray's shoulder and said, his voice cracking, "I'm sorry, son. I'm so sorry. I didn’t wanna do it. I’m so sorry." He fell asleep mumbling that phrase.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

"I never saw him like this. He was totally out of control." Ray told Susan on the phone. Suddenly, Ray's father staggered into the kitchen wearing nothing but a tee shirt and boxer shorts. "I got to go. Love you."

Ray looked in shock at his father. Normally, the man walked into a room like he owned the place. Not now. His face unshaven and hair unkempt, his face down in shame. The man looked utterly broken.

"Sit down." Ray said. "I'm going to make you some breakfast."

His father shook his head. "Just burnt toast and coffee." Prince glanced up at his son and then looked down again. "Don't look at me. You remind me too much of my father."

Ray smiled. "He saw you hung over?"

Prince gave a little shrug. "When I was in college, I was a part of a bluegrass band. Sometimes we drank too much." Looking up, he saw Ray's surprised face and he smirked. "Didn't know that about me, did you?"

Ray shrugged. "Mom said you were in a band. Frankly, we didn't believe it."

Prince chuckled. "You remind of my father. Always have. He was a coal miner near Louisville. Worked the same job over 20 years. Never bothered being anything better. I hated that. I'd asked why he never wanted to be foreman and he'd say "For what? Who wants the added hassle?"

Ray had to admit, he liked the way his grandfather thought.

As if reading his son's mind, Prince added. "Then you came and it was like my father reincarnated. Damned man wasn’t even forty-five when he died. Died doing the same thing he started doing when he got out of high school. I swore I wouldn't do that. I made it point to better myself. To work my way up. I wasn't going to just stand still like him." Suddenly, he changed the subject again. "Your sister turned forty yesterday."

"I know." Ray said with a wistful smile. 

"I remember when I was forty. I was Special Agent in charge. Bullshit. Thought my job was so damned important." he grumbled.

"It was." Ray asserted, with a frown. He then took a deep breath and changed the subject. "I spoke to Abby yesterday. She's agreed to see you." he added quickly. 

Ray's father's eyes lit up like a kid who’d been told he was going to Disneyland so Ray added. "You're going to have to clean yourself up, though. I'm not taking you anywhere like that."

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

A few hours later, a very much cleaned up Douglas Prince finally came face to face with his daughter.

"Papa." Abby said with some trepidation.

“My baby girl.” Prince said with reverence. Suddenly, he got anxious. “Are they treating you okay? The guards aren’t hurting you, are they?”

“I’m fine.” She assured him.

“You sure? I know how they treat prisoners here, especially former agents. If you’re being mistreated, I’ll make some calls. I’ll…”

Abby interrupted. “I’m fine, Pop. I’m not getting anything I don’t deserve.”

Prince just sat there and put his fingers on the glass as if he could reach through and touch her. "My baby" he said lovingly.

Abby looked down, her voice cracking. "I'm sorry, Pop."

"No. I am." he insisted. "I should've done better by you. I failed you--as a father and as a mentor. I failed.” His voice cracking, he looked down, took a deep breath and changed the subject. “So, has your mother visited?”

Abby smiled shyly and nodded. “All the time. She tries to cover it up like Ray but I can tell she’s sad when she comes here.”

Prince got a faraway look in his eyes. “She always was the strong one. I never wanted to admit it but she was.”

"I'm sorry, Papa,” she said again, tears falling down her face. "I know what you think of me. It probably would've been better if I'd died on the job."

'No!" he insisted, vehemently. "Don't say that! Don't you dare say that! I don't care what you did. Nothing you could do can ever make me wish that. I'd do anything to protect you. You hear me? Anything."

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

“How come I never knew you could cook?” Ray’s father asked after devouring the teriyaki chicken sandwich Ray made him for lunch when they got back from the prison.

Ray shrugged. “You never cared.” Seeing his father’s crestfallen expression, he quickly added “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No,” his father said with a faraway look in his eyes. “You’re right. I was a terrible father.”

‘You weren’t that bad.” Ray argued.

“Yes, I was---to all of you.“ he said, dejected. 

Suddenly, Ray’s phone rang. “Uh, It’s Will. I better take it.” he said, as he stood up.

Prince overheard his son’s portion of the conversation. So, the team was on a mission. That explained where Ray’s girlfriend was. He liked her—she was smart, capable, direct. He figured Ray could use someone like that. Plus, while she seemed to share Ray’s optimistic streak, Hers was tempered with a healthy dose of reality. Suddenly, he heard Ray mention Brazil. Prince’s pulse quickened. It couldn’t be. It had to be a coincidence. Only he didn’t believe it coincidences. He began to panic. His son’s team was in danger. In danger because of him! He had to do something. He just couldn’t just sit there and listen. Suddenly, the answer was clear—

“It’s a trap!” Prince yelled as he stood up to face Ray. “They can’t go to terminal! They can’t!” The whole thing is a set up! You can’t let them go!”

Ray stood there dumbfounded at his father’s outburst. “Uh, Will. There might be a problem. Hold tight until I call you back. I’m going call you right back. There might be some bad intel.” Ray had his father sit down and then sat down next to him. “What’s going on?” Ray asked. “What do you know about this mission?”

“I didn’t know your team was involved. I-I didn’t anybody was involved! I just did what he told me to do! Suggest that the terrorists raiding terminals in Brazil were going to pose as government agents!”

“Yeah, that’s what the team is there for.” Ray said, trying to figure out what his father was talking about.

“No!” his father said, angry. “Don’t you see?! The ATF is sending a team! They’ll see your team; they’ll each assume the other’s a fake and they’ll take each other out! Idiot!” he cried, putting his fist to his head and rocking back and forth. “I didn’t even think! I just did what he told me! Stupid idiot!!!”

“Stop!” Ray said, at a loss at what his father was talking about. “Stop.” he repeated, more quietly in an effort to get his father to relax. “What are talking about? Who told you what?”

His father sat there and stared at the table. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Ray. He was barely able to get the words out. After a few seconds, he finally responded. “Ollerman. He—he told me to brief the ATF.”

Ray sat there in shock; his mouth wide open. Finally, he asked, rather forcefully. “What? Why the hell would you help a son of a bitch like Ollerman?!"

"It was the only way to protect Abigail!" Prince declared, still too ashamed to look at Ray. "Son of bitch came to me after she was arrested. I told him I was going to call the police. He said if I did, she was dead. That the only reason she wasn’t dead already was because he could use me.” Suddenly, he slammed his hand against the table and started crying. “I didn’t have a choice, damn it!!! He was going to kill her! It was the only way to save her! God help me, it was the only way!” At this point, he put his head on the table and broke down crying.

"Son of a bitch." Ray muttered, referring to Ollerman. “Wait,” he said as he realized something. “You’ve been retired for over ten years. What exactly could you do for him?”

Prince had stopped crying and looked up, still avoiding eye contact. “He still has people in the government who are ‘sympathetic’ (a wave of disgust crossed his face as he said that word) to him. People younger than me, older than you who buy into his load of…” He took a deep breath and continued. “These people are in positions of power and are able to recommend a consultant for certain missions. That consultant” he pointed to himself as he said that word with disgust, “basically gives the advice Ollerman wants given. Someone recommended me to the ATF and I told them about the fake government cell. I didn’t know. I swear. I didn’t know why he told me to tell them that.”

A wave of anger, directed at Ollerman, surged through Ray. It was bad enough he turned Abby when she was at her most vulnerable, but to force his father, his by-the-book father, to help him? 

Prince finally looked at Ray, put his hand on his shoulder and, with a sense of urgency, pleaded. "You have to turn me in. If you don’t and they find out you knew…” His voice starting cracking again. “I didn't do this for you to get ruined too. Please! You’re innocent. Of all of us, you're the innocent one. Please, you can't throw your career away because of me! You can’t!”

"I can't just let you go to jail." Ray insisted.

"You have to! Please. Don't ruin yourself for me. Please." Prince said, starting to cry again.

Ray got up suddenly. “I have to call Will back.”

"What are you going to tell him?" his father asked.

After a moment's pause, Ray said. "Tell him it’s a trap, obviously. Other than that, I don't know."

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Ray had, in fact, told Will everything. The good news was, obviously, Ollerman’s plan to eliminate the team failed. The bad news was waiting to find out what was going to happen to Ray’s father. Ray still couldn’t believe that his father was in Ollerman’s pocket ever since Abby was arrested. That meant the whole time Ray was ignoring his calls, and the time he told Ray he wanted to see Abby, he’d already sold his soul for his daughter. It did help explain his father’s disarray on Abigail’s birthday. Ray knew her birthday had something to do with him being drunk but he couldn’t figure out the time frame since he looked like a man who’d been on a bender. But did it start in D.C. or did he come to New York early hoping to see her and then start? The reality was, he’d already been in New York for over a week—to brief the ATF. This briefing coinciding so close to his daughter's birthday resulted in a week-long bender. Which was lucky for everyone, otherwise, Ray’s father probably wouldn’t have shown up drunk at the prison.

The next day, Ray sat in the kitchen with his father, waiting for Will to arrive from his meeting with Director Casey. Ray’s father was fidgeting which Ray found odd—his father hated fidgeting. He used to bark at Ray’s brother all the time for doing it. Yet here he was —rapping the table with his fingers. Ray put his hand over his father’s and told him it was going to be okay. He waited for his father’s sarcastic comeback. “And how do you know that?” His father hated optimism. Yet, instead of his usual retort, Ray’s father simply closed eyes and put his other hand over Ray’s, as if getting strength from him. Again a surge of anger welled up in Ray, again directed at Ollerman. He'd taken one of the strongest men, Ray knew and broken him.

Finally, Will arrived and laid out the solution he’d recommended to Director Casey. "The best solution is for you to work as a triple agent. You'd act like you're working for Ollerman but you’d be giving us the same information Ollerman gave you, so you'd actually be working for us."

Prince shot Will a hard stare. "I was working intelligence since before you were in diapers. I know what a triple agent is." 

Ray smothered a smile. Now, that sounded like his father. Then a thought occurred to him. "Wait. If Ollerman gets suspicious..."

"There's a chance he'd come after your father and Abby."

"As long as my children are safe.” Prince stated. “I don’t care what happens to me.”

"Well, I do." Ray declared. "We're not doing it."

“We have to.” His father insisted. “He has to be stopped. He can’t be allowed to keep doing this.” He looked at Ray. “Please, son. Let me do this.”

Ray found that amusing. No one ever “let” his father do anything. But this wasn’t the time to point that out. Instead, he sighed and with a small smile said “Fine.” He then stood up and said to Will. “If you don’t mind, I want to call the Director. Get a feel for how this is going to happen.”

Prince watched Ray leave the room and, letting out a sigh, said. “Smart move would’ve been to just turn me in.”

“You know why he can’t, right?” Will asked, pointedly.

Prince nodded. “Abigail.”

Will shook his head. “No. We’d a find a way to protect Abby—keep her in solitary confinement, put her in Witness Protection and transfer her under a new name. No, Ray’s doing this to protect you and, honestly, I don’t know why.”

Prince didn’t expect that. “You wouldn’t do it?”

Will looked at him. “If it was *my* father, yes. Absolutely. Because *my* father has been nothing but loving and supportive of me my entire life. He’s *earned* my respect. From what I can tell, you’ve shown nothing but contempt for Ray his whole life but he just *gives* you respect for no other reason than you’re his father.” Seeing the expression on Mr. Prince’s face, Will softened. “Look, I don’t blame you for what you did to save Abby. It’s perfectly understandable, and who knows, if it was me, I might do the same thing. But Ray’s taking a risk here and I really hope you appreciate it.”

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

“You going be okay?” Ray asked his father as he was ready to go back home to Washington.

The question caught Ray’s father of guard. “You never asked me that before.”

Ray gave a small shrug. “I never had to before.”

His father smiled. “I’ll be okay.” Just then his mood shifted and he glanced down, “Look, there’s something I should say—I guess I never said it because I didn't think I needed to—but I-I-I love you." He then suddenly hugged Ray. "I love you, son.”

Ray was surprised for a second, then he smiled. “I love you too, Pop.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ever since I wrote The Year of the Mole the question "How is Abby still alive?" kept gnawing at me. For me, the answer to was simple--it had to be Ray's father. Back when I was writing The Great Prince, I already had the story of Ray's sister in my head and figured something like that would hit Douglas Prince hard. Didn't realize how hard until I was writing this.
> 
> Mr. Prince's talk to Ray about old age came from ep. 4 "Chapter 4" of Perry Mason (2020)
> 
> BTW--I read somewhere about people eating burnt toast to ease a hangover. I looked it up and it does not work as a hangover cure. However, it's enough of a old wives' tale that I think a man Mr. Prince's age would believe it.


End file.
